Use Your Friends to Find Your Dream Job

Network work work work work.

By
GEORGENE HUANG AND ROMY NEWMAN

Aug 8, 2016

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Your Best Year Ever continues into 2016! This month, the co-founders of Fairygodboss, a site dedicated to improving the workplace for women, offer advice on how to balance your own act. Say hello to a happier nine-to-five this August—and ever after....

If you're looking for a job, chances are that someone, somewhere will tell you that you need to "network." While there is absolutely nothing wrong with networking, that term usually conjures up the unfortunate mental image of you at a college alumni event, wearing a name tag and holding a cheap glass of white wine while awkwardly striking up conversations with other name tags also hoisting stemware.

<<Shudders.>>

Forget about all that. Here are five easy ways to make your existing community work for you—no stranger danger required.

1. Ask Your Network to Introduce You to Smart, Connected People

"It's not usually first-degree connections that hire you."

When people say they got a job "through someone I know," most of the time, they are not being literal. In other words, it's not usually first-degree connections who hire you. After all, those people are your aunt or uncle, or, you know, your friend from college. However, it's not uncommon for your personal network to be connected to someone else who is going to make a hire. Reach out to people in your personal network to tell them you're looking for a job and would like to meet smart, connected people they know who might have advice to give you. If you're focused on a specific industry or job role, you can be more strategic and ask for introductions to people who will share a bit about their career path with you. It's easier to get someone to take a so-called informational than if you are expressly asking them to help you get a job.

2. Don't Just Follow! Develop Relationships via Social Media

You can really use Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook in this way. Employers increasingly have a career presence on social media and understand that they will attract candidates through these channels. You can comment, like, retweet, and share content in order to "build a social media relationship" with your target connections. If your list is long (and ambitious) enough, and you have quality interactions, you will be surprised at both a) how much you will learn about your prospective job, industry, and employer, and b) how one day someone will respond to your direct message/InMail/comment about a job opening. It's the new world order!

3. Become the Connector, IRL and Online

It might sound absurd to tack on another to-do, but sometimes the most effective path to a goal is not linear. In other words, use your new social media relationships and newly developed acquaintances to suggest connections for others. They are doing you a favor by spending time thinking about your job needs or reading your social media content. Do them a favor in return by giving them ideas or new people to get to know (or follow, if this is a virtual relationship). This also makes it more likely that you and your needs (a new job) stay top-of-mind. You want to stay relevant, and one way to expand your relevance is to bring new people—followers, connections, resources, etc.—into your network's lives.

4. Prepare to Be Shameless

Don't be afraid to broadcast your intentions. It may sound obvious, but nobody is a mind reader. If you're actively using your personal network and social media to get your next job, you shouldn't beat around the bush. Tell your friends, family, ex-colleagues, and reasonably familiar acquaintances that you are looking for a job. Send them an email with the words "I'm looking for a new job" written clearly and at the beginning of the note. And tell them again if you need to remind them over coffee or lunch! As difficult as it may be for those of us who instinctively hold things close to the vest, this is no situation for shyness or subtlety.

5. Don't. Ever. Stop. Networking

"Think of these efforts as a fitness routine for your career."

If you're about to land the job you've been wanting (or even a stopgap, temporary gig while you keep looking for "the one"), don't think that all the new relationships and social media effort should be kept on ice. Getting a job seems like a short-term goal, but with the average job tenure being less than five years these days for millennials, there is nothing "one-off" or "temporary" about your job search. Face it: Most professionals these are days are in a near-perpetual state of looking for their next roles. Sure, you can tone down the rate of your emails and informational coffee meetings, and be less active on social media, but you should be wary of abandoning everything you've invested in. You never know when the next opportunity is going to come your way, and you don't want to wait until you're in a bind to start up that old engine again. Think of these efforts as a fitness routine for your career. You would never let things go entirely, even if you've hit a short-term weight loss goal, so why stop when it comes to your career?

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